Using HomeBase 2.3

Installing and using HomeBase 2.3

HomeBase 2.3 is
our free inventory management software. You can work with it offline to
catalogue and manage your books. It is easy to install HomeBase
2.3
and everything you need to know about how to use HomeBase 2.3 can be found on
our HomeBase 2.3 User Guide. This includes
how to add and edit books, how to manage catalogues, how to send your data to
AbeBooks and much more. Below are our FAQs for HomeBase 2.3.

To install HomeBase 2.3 on your
computer, close any open programs on your computer and proceed as follows:

Go to the HomeBase 2.3 download page and click
the [Download HomeBase] button

Click
[Save As] in the File Download dialog box

Select an easily accessible location on your
computer, such as your Desktop, and click
[Save]

Double-click the [HomeBase23_Multi.exe] icon on your Desktop, or in the location you
chose to save the download file, and click [Run].
The HomeBase Installation Wizard will
launch

Select your preferred language for using
HomeBase and click [Next]

Read through the HomeBase Software license
agreement and select the [I Accept the
terms in the HomeBase Software license agreement] option

Continue through all steps of the installation
process using the [Next] button

Note that to automatically associate
your existing HomeBase data with the updated version you are installing, you
must choose the same destination location as your current version of HomeBase

When the installation is complete, click the [Finish] button

You will be
prompted to use the Setup Wizard the first time you use HomeBase 2.3. If you
wish, you can skip the Setup Wizard and relaunch it at any time from the 'Tools' menu.

How do I send my book data to AbeBooks?

Once you have you have registered online and your bookseller account has been opened, you will need to enter your User ID and account password into HomeBase 2.3 before you send your first book list to AbeBooks. If you are not sure what your User ID is, you can check by signing onto your AbeBooks account and selecting [Your Personal Information] and then [Update Your Account Information].

Entering your User ID & Password into HomeBase 2.3:

Select [View] from the grey menu bar at the top

Then select [Options…]

Enter your User ID and re-enter password to ensure that it is correct

Click [Apply]

Then click [OK]

Once you have done this you will be able to send your book data to AbeBooks and update your online inventory.

Note: Once you have installed the update,
HomeBase will only store your password ‘per session’. This means that whenever you close the
program, you will be required to re-enter your password the next time you open
HomeBase to upload an inventory file.

If you are unsure of
your User ID, you can easily check it in the [Account Details] of your AbeBooks account. It appears at the very
top of the page in capital letters.

This will ensure that the full file you send us replaces everything that you have online. This will correct any discrepancies and help keep your data up-to-date.

Once you have uploaded a file to AbeBooks, you will receive an email confirming the file has been received and additional details about the file. If you find that the number of books is not exactly as you uploaded, this may be due to the fact that our system counts the lines in your file as opposed to the books. With certain file types this may cause the number to be inaccurate, so please do check the changes online.

As you can see below, you can use this page to check if we received your file. You can see how many books were in the file and when the file's status was last updated.

How can I manage sold books in HomeBase 2.3?

It is important to ensure that your online inventory is up-to-date, especially after your first orders have been processed. A book ordered via AbeBooks will automatically be removed from your online inventory. It is however; very important to update this also in HomeBase 2.3, marking that book as sold to ensure that in your future uploads the book is not accidentally re-uploaded.

Managing Sold Books:

To remove books from the AbeBooks online system using HomeBase 2.3, you are required to change the status of your sold books to [Sold] and then send these changes to AbeBooks.

Note:It is very important that you do not delete books in HomeBase 2.3. Your books will only be completely removed from your AbeBooks inventory if you have marked them as [Sold].

When you send a file of sold books, AbeBooks matches those book numbers against the ones already online. When our system reads that book #1234 is marked as sold it removes the listing from the AbeBooks websites. It is imperative that you send your sold book records to AbeBooks on a regular basis.

To mark books as sold in HomeBase 2.3:

Click [Books] in the red bar. The [Find Books] screen is displayed

Select the book you wish to update

Double click to open the book record

Select [Sold] from the Status list

Click the [Save] button and then click [OK]

Note: There is a shortcut for marking books as sold. On the [Find Books] screen, select the sold books. Right-click and select [Mark Selected Books as Sold].

The best way to keep track of sold books in HomeBase 2.3 is to create a "Sold" catalogue and move all of your sold books into it.

To create a Sold catalogue and move books into it:

Click [Catalogs] in the red bar. The [Catalogs] screen is displayed

Click the [Add] button. The [Add Catalog] box is displayed

Enter the catalogue name as "Sold" and enter a description (optional)

Click the [Save] button

Click [Books] in the red bar

In the Tools menu, select [Move all sold books to]

Select the "Sold" catalogue from the list. Click the [OK] button

All books marked "Sold" will now be moved into your "Sold" catalogue. You can now send your books to AbeBooks as you normally would.

Note: There is a shortcut for marking books as sold. On the [Find Books] screen, select the sold books. Right-click and select [Move all Sold books to] and complete step 7.

While many buyers use the search function to find the books they are looking for, many buyers also use browsing to find books. If you assign categories to your listings, your books will be more visible to those buyers who browse. If you do not, our system will attempt to match your books to the appropriate category. Please note that when you assign your own categories we will not add further categories to your listings

An alternative option for categorising your listings would be to use the latest version of HomeBase 3.0, where each book can be assigned up to 10 AbeBooks Categories.

HomeBase 3.0 uses different technology than HomeBase 2.3, so it is not an upgrade. This means that if you would like to download and install HomeBase 3.0 to take a look around before deciding whether to use it, it is safe to do so.